MITCH MCCONNELL: The Obama Administration Is Indifferent To The Rule Of Law

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the courts of law and public opinion,
congressional Republicans increasingly accuse President Barack
Obama of exceeding his constitutional authority for the benefit
of special interests, most recently by delaying a requirement for
businesses to provide health care for their workers.

In one instance, Senate Republicans formally backed a lawsuit
challenging the president's appointment of three members of the
National Labor Relations Board without confirmation. The Supreme
Court has agreed to review a ruling in the case, which found that
Obama overstepped his bounds.

Most recently, the White House's decision to postpone a key part
of the president's health care law drew rhetorical denunciations
Tuesday from Republicans who, ironically, want to see the law
repealed in its entirety.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the
action was part of a pattern of "indifference to the rule of law
on the part of this administration. ... He did it with
immigration. He did it with welfare work requirements. And he did
it with the NLRB when he took it upon himself to tell another
branch of government when it was in recess.

"And now he's doing it again with his own signature health care
law," said McConnell, who is seeking re-election next year in a
state where Obama is unpopular.

White House press secretary Jay Carney had no comment on
McConnell's complaint that the administration is indifferent to
the rule of law. The White House disputes each allegation in
turn, citing specific legal authority for the president's
actions, or saying the assertion was factually incorrect.

Oddly enough, on one particularly incendiary issue, Obama so far
has rejected suggestions that he has authority to continue
government borrowing without a vote by Congress to raise the debt
ceiling. To switch course would inevitably invite a lawsuit.

Whatever the merits of the Republican claims, they sometimes
include a dose of politics of the sort they accuse Obama of
playing.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, threatened to sue when Obama announced
several weeks before the 2012 election that he would stop
deportation proceedings against many younger immigrants who are
in the country illegally, so long as they went to college or
served in the military. The move was widely viewed as a gesture
to Hispanic voters, many of whom live in key battleground states.

A suit subsequently was filed by federal immigration enforcement
agents, and King was not a party to it, although his office says
it was the product of a meeting he called. King also used the
issue to raise money for his own re-election to Congress last
fall, emailing potential donors that Obama "refuses to enforce
immigration laws."

In addition to challenging Obama's adherence to the rule of law,
McConnell's speech included a pre-emptive attack in case
Democrats try to change Senate rules this summer and make it
easier to confirm presidential appointees.

"I know Washington Democrats are getting a lot of pressure from
big labor union bosses and other far-left elements of their base
to do this," the Kentucky Republican said. "These folks have told
Democrats it's time to pay up, and they don't have much time for
things like the democratic process or the rule of law."

He spoke at about the same time House Democrats and union leaders
held a news conference to pressure Republicans not to block
confirmation for several appointments, including at the NLRB,
which rules on collective bargaining disputes between employees
and companies.

"Whatever it takes to get these nominees through, an up or down
vote is what we want," said Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO's
legislative director. "That might very well include a change in
the rules to make it impossible for the Republicans to filibuster
the nominations."

The lawsuit backed by Senate Republicans challenged Obama's
so-called recess appointments of three members of the NLRB.

The Constitution gives the president authority to make
appointments without confirmation when the Senate is in recess.
In the case at issue, Obama acted at a time Congress was away on
an extended holiday break, but the Senate met every three days as
part of an explicit strategy by Republicans to prevent such
appointments.

Rejecting the administration's arguments, a three-judge panel of
the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled that recess
appointments can be made only during the once-a-year break
between sessions of Congress, typically at the end of the year.

Two judges on the panel also ruled that to qualify for a recess
appointment, a position must become vacant while the Senate is in
recess.

The Treasury Department said the one-year waiver of the
requirement for companies to provide health insurance announced
last week was "an exercise of the administrative authority"
granted by law when it comes to implementing new legislation like
the health care act.

One official cited other recent examples of waivers under the
same authority. A case in 2011 said aviation excise taxes that
had lapsed and then been reinstated would not be applied for a
three-week period ending the day Congress re-enacted them.

The other, from 2007, related to standards for penalties on
income tax preparers, according to the official, who citing
department regulations in speaking on condition of anonymity.

A year ago, when Obama announced the shift in immigration policy,
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano cited "prosecutorial
discretion."

McConnell's reference to welfare relates to a charge by
Republicans that the administration proposed new rules to lessen
the work requirements implemented as part of a 1996 overhaul of
the program. The White House denies the proposal had that effect.